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There’s a Chinese company, with exclusive rights to manufacture LED lights, locating to the city of Cleveland, Ohio. It’s my limited understanding that the city of Cleveland stipulates that the company will supply & maintain 300 jobs for 10 years. General Electric, which is also headquartered in Cleveland, was not able to bid for the work because they would be supplying jobs in North Carolina, not Ohio.
My question is: Who/What caused this situation? It appears that it’s nobody’s fault, but my instincts tell me that this country (the 50 States) had better stop ‘cut-throating' each other & start getting our sh*t together.
My question is: Who/What caused this situation? It appears that it’s nobody’s fault...
Are you serious? You are at fault, because you are the government, and you allowed this situation to perpetuate itself.
There isn't a level playing field, and there never will be, until there's a constitutional amendment that bars municipalities, counties and states from giving tax breaks to any business or giving tax money to any business.
So, if cities and states can't offer tax breaks how in the world could a city or state possibly convince the Big Corporation to relocate its headquarter to their city/state or keep other businesses from leaving?
Um, here's a novel idea: How about governing well.
Without tax incentives, companies will go where the taxes are lowest, the most services are offered, streets, water and sewer systems are maintained to the highest standards, the schools are best, the crime is lowest, public transporation and public recreation are plentiful and there's lots of green space and no red-tape or other stupid city/state games and...
Well, scratch that, since almost all US companies would immediately relocate overseas.
DSOs...we vote the people into office that make these stupid rules.
Then we go and re-elect them because they make outrageous promises right before election.
A never ending cycle of keeping bad people in office who have turned it into their careers and favor those most likely to get them re-elected rather than work for the people they represent.
Who is to blame for all this...why look in the mirror.
My question is: Who/What caused this situation? It appears that it’s nobody’s fault, but my instincts tell me that this country (the 50 States) had better stop ‘cut-throating' each other & start getting our sh*t together.
I agree, when states lure companies in and offer huge breaks and advantages, it is just "domestic out-sourcing" IMO. Toyota, Honda, etc get huge advantages to do business and undercut American manufacturing.
However, if GE wanted the work they could have offered to meet Cleveland's terms.
I suspect, the original idea was well intentioned - give Cleveland tax dollars to a company that had an investment in Cleveland. A sort of misguided protectionism that resulted in a foreign entity getting the contract. I suppose many companies would not even bid if it required moving their production facilities. And possibly the Chinese company is operating with a long term perspective and Chinese government subsidizes.
However, if GE wanted the work they could have offered to meet Cleveland's terms.
I think the older Companies are getting drained from the feeding frenzy they enjoyed over the last 10+ years—States begging/luring/paying companies to relocate to their areas. More importantly, they now feel that the States & taxpayers are becoming a money pit—all ‘tapped’ out with high standards/expectations. I’m sure the Chinese have that burden already factored in.
I do have a sincere confidence that the Chinese want things to work out nobly for everyone involved.
A lot of this sounds like a bunch of whiny BS to me. We can either use our power and ingenuity to succeed globally or cry about how unfair it all is. If we get unseated as THE global superpower it will be our own short-sighted failings.
We can either use our power and ingenuity to succeed globally or cry about how unfair it all is.
In hindsight, this is what’s bugging me & why I posted this thread. How is this country (50 states) going to succeed globally if we can’t even cooperate with each other—state to state! I’m not talking about protectionism; wheelsup said it best—it's called "not seeing the forest thru the trees."
What are the odds of Cleveland letting the 300 American jobs go to North Carolina—where they are tooled & ready to go? What are the odds of North Carolina returning the favor to Cleveland down the road?
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